The US government is giving out free wasps

[@TomScottGo]

I'm focusing on just one project here to make the story clearer, but I should point out there are many different projects like this, working with many different species. (And to preempt the obvious question in the title: the wasps are not available to the general public!)

[@Schmalfonzo]

Yay free wasps

[@Kat21]

Tom help I don’t want wasps

[@ilsei5331]

hi

[@PugrillaEggy54321]

y

[@welredd]

The mandatory “hoW Is tHiS fRoM thReE dAYs aGO?!??”

[@AhrimanThorn]

“I’ve been working with them for a decade, and I’ve never been stung.” That’s exactly what someone who was being mind controlled by a parasitic wasp would say.

[@placeholdernameisplacehold7671]

I mean, the whole point of the venom of a parasitic wasp stings is to be as painless and unintrusive as possible so the host continues to survive until the parasitoid is ready to kill them. He may not feel them anyway

[@sarowie]

well, a parasitic wasp would technically not sting (with its butt) it would use its mouth and thus bite.

[@TheWebstaff]

🤣😂🤣

[@Kenan-Z]

😂 You made my day👌

[@makingastardestroyer3066]

my exact thoughts

[@cmdrpanorpa8631]

"Taxpayer funded wasps" not a phrase I expected to hear, and a phrase I will use when telling people this information.

[@xolotlnephthys]

Before taxpayer funded WASPs were just megachurches

[@Rugops42]

Now if only we could get those wasps to become taxpayers.

[@mythreepants]

Government funded spicy sky-raisins

[@khalilahd.]

Lmfao same here 😅

[@Currywurst4444]

In Europe even common wasps are funded by the government and illegal to kill because they are important for the eco system in controlling insect populations.

[@ajbowers44]

I build cellphone towers and the last 3-5 years have been INSANE because of these stink bugs. When I open up a cabinet anywhere in the Midwest there are dozens, if not HUNDREDS, of them living in there. And somehow they ALWAYS find a way into my car when I’m parked on site. Another cool topic for a video would be the swarms of bees that form around antennas. You can be several feet in the air and have a cloud of 100 bees just buzzing around the antennas that dissipate as soon as you turn the equipment off.

[@benjaminmartin956]

How does someone get into your trade of building cell towers? I'm looking for a new career and a change of pace.

[@joeylawn36111]

There's also this certain species of ant that's attracted to low-power Electronic devices, shorting them out when they get inside them.

[@marcpaulus6291]

Here in Germany we have them also. They are the only insects that somehow manage to get into the house despite insect nets. Especially at the start of autumm we will have at least 1 stink bug per week until it starts to freeze

[@lewisfolkner7516]

Yep. Window washer here. They are everywhere. Constantly getting behind screens.

[@BenFoilHat]

Idk why they’re called stink bugs. They don’t smell bad they kinda smell like flowers and chemicals mixed together

[@quintenschuppert7135]

It's crazy that British spelling is used in the subtitles when Tom is speaking, and American spelling when the researcher is speaking. What an effort.

[@smooooth_]

Plot Twist: He makes everyone that talks in the videos type out their own transcript

[@strilight]

Tom certainly likes moving that compass needle.

[@meh3247]

It's so deaf people know that a yank is speaking and can therefore be safely ignored.

[@goldenhate6649]

Same as if someone from london is speaking, since that city has less british than europeans in it

[@OGSumo]

@@meh3247 Haha swap the nationalities around and you’ve got the US cut as well. That’s 2 videos in 1, what a deal!

[@longcx7242]

I can't believe Tom is giving out 100k free wasps

[@Kat21]

So many wasps 😮

[@tanapigeon810]

free 100k free wasp????? freeeee? 100k so many ?! wasp

[@Kat21]

@@tanapigeon810 FREE 100K!? This is MrBeast level of wasps

[@rahmatramadhan9874]

And you should contact Tom personally to receive your complimentary wasp.

[@whitebear8265]

@@Kat21 That's why they call Tom "The MrBeast of wasps"

[@TheKlaun9]

Biologists have a special place in my heart. I remember at my graduation ceremony, we did it together with Biology and it was just one PhD after the other about the same fungus doing its thing. I also remember molecular biology and putting tiny quantities of things into things all day. Imagine having to study, feed and nurture those wasps for decades as your job and still have that sort of passion. Those guys must be both the most chill and most obsessed humans on Earth. Hats off to people doing that sort of work, you're truly amazing and without you, our planet would be a much worse place.

[@unnamellie]

Hey, thank you :) From a biologist, who's just starting their journey

[@samanthal9114]

I'm a molecular biology postdoc and "putting tiny quantities of things into things all day" is a frighteningly accurate description of my job.

[@borgshadow13]

am biologist, checks out. the chill part is mostly found in ecologists though, at least in my experience so far :D

[@shaetane]

Yo fungi are super interesting tbh, and as a biology grad I appreciate that you appreciate us^^ When we see how little care we give to our planet I think it needs quite a lot more biologists!

[@benvoliothefirst]

...and then imagine they get released anyway! Good thing we need 'em. Hopefully the Law of Unintended Consequences doesn't rear its ugly head again.

[@maxherman8383]

Thanks for dropping this during the holiday season, really helpful for those needing last-minute gift ideas

[@Steeyuv]

Thanks, my neighbours now wonder why I am laughing so much…

[@khalilahd.]

Hahaha exactly

[@alveolate]

wishing you a merry christmas and a waspy new year

[@FTChomp9980]

I don't like where this is going.

[@geraldmaxwell3277]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@NAHDFOX]

In time I've realized one of the big things that makes Tom's videos so enjoyable is that, not only does he go out of his way to help people learn more about these otherwise unknown or obscure jobs/creations/facts about the world, but he also takes the time to focus on the workers and designers that helped make it happen. It is so nice to see how he focuses on the human components behind everything; being able to see interviews with the very people who make these things work really makes the subject matter feel that much more valuable. There's something so starkly different between a voiceover video of someone explaining what is going on with generic stock images or videos, versus seeing Tom actually go to each location and talk to the workers themselves about what goes down. It no longer feels like just some fun factoid; it really emphasizes that there are workers actively keeping something like this going.

[@AntonyJohnston]

100%. And unlike some interviewers, Tom also knows when to be quiet and let the interviewee speak.

[@WhatIsSanity]

It's adds significant authenticity and voracity to the video as well. It's not just a video saying "hey this is a thing, that's cool." It's documentation making Tom Scott videos like a kind of report. Which is something very lacking in todays media, despite it being easier than ever to do on site reporting. Well aside from covid and on goings wars, coups and political tensions. It was far easier to travel up until 2020. Still easier than say 1920. Any how I'll end the tangent there XD.

[@jasonreed7522]

@@AntonyJohnston 1000%, if you ask someone a question let them actually answer it. It makes me frustrated when you can tell someone had had a 2-3hr interview and they show maybe 5min of it and the rest is just them reiterating whatever was said. Tom lets the interviewees answer the technically questions while he gives background and big picture as to why. So many interviewers could learn from this model, especially talk show hosts who try to spin the guests words on them to write a different narative than the guest came to present.

[@louisrobitaille5810]

He doesn't go out of his way for this, it IS his way 😂

[@Luke-pp4si]

I liked this before even reading it! And glad to say after reading it I agree whole heartily😊

[@AntiVectorTV]

"I've worked with this wasp for over a decade." Well, if you can vouch for him, I trust you.

[@Slateproc]

I absolutely love how good Tom Scott is at making videos that make you go "huh, neat". It's not earthshattering knowledge but it's just interesting enough

[@cappuchino_creations]

Tom Scott is the KZbin-equivalent to r/TIL

[@albusjustalbus7988]

Sometimes it has a potential to become something big, like in this video - it's a potential eco catastrophe.

[@Jacobsmittyy]

@@albusjustalbus7988 i can confirm, here in oregon we've had SO many stinkbugs these last few years it's definitely a problem haha. I had no clue this video was about here until they said Oregon, cool stuff!

[@LoneHawk]

If you've dealt with stinkbugs before this IS earthshattering

[@MikeySkywalker]

Which is way more valuable.

[@DanyilDvorianov]

As a kid I loved raspberries. I was eating them from a bush in my grandma’s garden with both hands, but what I didn’t see was a stinkbug hiding on top of a berry. The taste lingered in my mouth for days, and I can never look at raspberries again the same way…

[@greggv8]

Try eating raspberries while drinking 7-Up.

[@no1uno388]

I know the pain, but with apples. I dont trust them anymore

[@Leviathan56]

Yum

[@vacafuega]

Thank you for doing your part to control the population, I now declare you an honorary wasp

[@taffyadam6031]

It’s a bot, ignore it

[@ihateunicorns867]

I think I can safely say that releasing a genus of wasps that lay their eggs in the bodies of bugs, where the larvae will hatch inside the living bodies of these bugs and start to devour their internal organs one-by-one, is a good example of how the 'natural' way is not always the nicest.

[@jamesstewart8663]

There are few non-gruesome or terrible deaths in nature.

[@MrHack4never]

But it's a great example of "if it works, it works"

[@SoneNando]

@@SmellyHam well, they're just surviving and reproducing, they don't even know about the larger implications of their actions. The same for the wasps.

[@Gammix]

@@SmellyHam I frequently get them finding their way into my room also, but I don't hate them that much, they're just annoying but thankfully don't bite. I'd have a different opinion if I were a farmer though, I'm sure.

[@hereniho]

dudes be like "just let nature take its course" nature taking its course:

[@andrewweirny]

They've somewhat recently started releasing imported wasps to try to control the emerald ash borer beetle, which is very depressingly killing over 99% of the ash trees in northeastern North America. Might make a good follow-up video.

[@Seeker0fTruth]

Any research you know of in Pennsylvania? My grandfather worked in forestry for Louisville Slugger and would scout plots of forested land containing trees suitable for making baseball bats. I believe ash was used if my memory serves (although I never met my grandfather, these stories have been told to me). My understanding is that the ash borer beetle devastated and nearly obliterated the ash tree in most parts of PA and beyond. Would love to learn more about this. Thanks for sharing.

[@virtualtools_3021]

@@justinsummers8788 oh you just need to import some parasitic mite that preys on the wasps

[@catsj1767]

I miss the nightly updates of the ash borer migration …. Not… the MLB should be wary of this as the ash bat is the best bat….😊😊😊 Now one cannot bring one’s own wood to the campsite because it further spreads the ash borer beetle, yet my fb friend posted sh has free ash wools to take 🙄

[@nicholassingleton6488]

@@justinsummers8788 The ash borers will never be gone, they are a part of our ecosystem now. Whats important is establishing a healthy balance between predator and prey, so there aren't enough borers to drive the ash trees to extinction.

[@Seeker0fTruth]

@@catsj1767 not kidding I couldn’t tell if you were speaking literally or figuratively 🙃

[@danieljensen2626]

Glad you covered the concerns about introducing competitive species, lots of history of that going terribly in the past!

[@PixieII]

The past two summers I've had wasps nesting in my stables, and each time I've hardly had any issues with horse flies - normally my horses get bitten really badly. Not sure if the wasps have been hunting the horse flies or scaring them off, but they're welcome to keep returning if I get the same results each year (also helps that they've never stung me)

[@stevenn1940]

Most wasps, from what I understand, are predatory, so that tracks. if it might be appropriate for your region, consider getting some carnivorous plants: cobra lilies for cooler climates (native to oregon iirc), then of course there's the typical venus fly traps and such.

[@lefish5277]

As a soon to be horse owner this is great info thank you

[@PixieII]

@@stevenn1940 I'm not sure we have native carnivorous plants here (UK). If the wasps keep the horse flies at bay they can keep returning, they've been polite so far and not stung me 😄

[@vulixirus]

people are too eager to get rid of wasps imo, even the scary ones that can sting you. my dad's house is in the middle of nowhere ontario, so we're always dealing with bugs. a few years ago some wasps set up shop on the corner of his roof, and it helped with the horsefly and midge population around the house. I see birds snatch up wasps every now and then so they never really got out of control, and they never bit or bothered us. thought it did take me a while to not get freaked out by them flying near me. it's annoying how some people only see predatory animals (like wasps, snakes, wolves, ect) as vermin when they can be quite helpful if left to do their thing.

[@branstooka]

We used to have a porch that was massively infested with stinging wasps. We decided to clear them out to use the porch. That is when I noticed that we had never had spiders in the house before we got rid of the wasps. They were actually doing us a favor. They weren't aggressive to us like yellow jackets or anything. The only time I was stung was when I accidentally brushed up against one in the dark.

[@fuelvolts]

I'm sure others have pointed out, this isn't the "US Government" it's the "Oregon Government". The federal government is not a part of this at all. This is funded by the residents of Oregon.

[@matthew9677]

Nope. Thank you.

[@seniorchonkza997]

​@@matthew9677 nope what?

[@Tozzlt]

@@seniorchonkza997 I think he means "nope others havent pointed this out. thanks for pointing it out."

[@ecyor0]

Oregon... is part of the US... so the Oregon Government... is part of the US Government? Surely?

[@paulhaynes8045]

Only in the State's would someone leap to point this out! State or federal, it's all the government.

[@TWeaK819]

My favourite trivia about parasitic wasps: It is said that for every type of beetle there is (and the naturalists of the 1800s tell us there are a great many) there exists a parasitic wasp that exclusively targets it. Some parasitic wasps are hyperparasites, that is they target other parasitic wasps. There is a tiny wasp that is smaller than an amoeba, with a reduced nervous system containing nuerons without nuclei.

[@rich1051414]

'Exclusive' is the wrong word. The word you are looking for is 'preferably'. They will target the next most similar beetle(with varying success) if they have no choice, which is exactly how they managed to survive with such behavior. They evolve with the species they preferably target, and branch off when the species branches off. The beetles can't escape the parasites.

[@adamsbja]

By the way, just so folks know: there's a whole bunch of similar-looking stink bugs in the Oregon region (and I assume elsewhere), marmorated are the major pest ones. If you're in a position to consider control like this make sure you identify what you've got and whether it's an issue.

[@overvoltagestudio]

We have similar ones in Sweden too, though they aren’t a big agriculture problem. We call them “berry farts”

[@p07a]

I see a couple of stink bugs in my apartment up in WA too. Gotta have to look into what type it is

[@eritain]

@@p07a The brown marmorated has very spiky shoulders and its back edge is outlined with a dashed white line. We got them this fall in the Portland area.

[@Subangelis]

That's one reason for the site visit.

[@etherraichu]

I live in Kentucky. We do not have anything here that looks like them. We've seen their population explode.

[@wizkid915]

I love how they’re breeding wasps to send across the country, but still breeding them in coffee cups labeled with post its and scotch tape 😂

[@drnapalm7605]

Thats all you need sometimes, and sometimes all you are able to use

[@valkyrie1066]

Hey, be resourceful and practical.

[@blackdragonxtra]

If cheap is effective, go cheap.

[@theletters9623]

excuse you those are soup cups (I am being pedantic for the sake of being funny)

[@debbiefox6846]

This is fantastic work. As a child I found many of these stink bugs in West Sacramento, CA about 45 yrs ago. I'm sure they had been brought in via the Port of Sacramento. I have many house plants and know many people who use this type of pest control in their homes so as not to use pesticides. For most it works fantastically if they choose the correct predator. As a child my parents would release hundreds of ladybugs on our roses and garden plants for aphid control and it worked really well. I have a little jumping spider I let live in and around my plants for fungus gnat control.The work you are doing is invaluable. 😊🌱💚

[@HPsawus]

I’m really glad people are still using methods like this. These days, we are too quick to reach for the sprayed chemicals

[@lukiauriga]

A taxpayer-funded Wasp Chamber is not something I expected to learn about today, but here we are

[@Flesh_Wizard]

Government approved subscriber milestone wasp giveaway

[@BodyMusicification]

I believe a "taxpayer-funded WASP chamber" is another way of saying "protestant church" ⛪️

[@girrrrrrr2]

If you had told me that there was a taxpayer funded wasp chamber. I'd think it was either a method of torture by the Cia, or a method of killing prisoners in Texas/Ohio.

[@disunityholychaos7523]

Still interesting when I found out the is govt have a large cave complex that stores CHEESE 🧀 in the dozens

[@jbtallguy]

Bro. I live in Oregon and those stink bugs are absolutely everywhere and get into everything. It’s a massive problem

[@adamvrg]

exactly the same in middle europe

[@HomerEscobar1]

We have them in the mountains of Idaho, they smell good like Christmas! Never knew what they were called until now

[@Bryophytan]

Gotta get your government mandated daily dose of wasp

[@stevenn1940]

Washington here, and I see them from time to time

[@WyvernYT]

Yes, but did you know Tom Scott was in Oregon? I didn't spot him!

[@wingingit3071]

3:53 thats exactly what a wasp would say to cover its tracks

[@that_rhobot]

Tom mentioned not knowing wasps could be that small, but there's quite a few smaller ones as well. The smallest insect is another parasitoid wasp species that can be as small as 140μm, smaller than some single celled organisms. Wasps can be surprisingly tiny!

[@LimeyLassen]

That's the fairy wasp! They're a commonplace animal that can be found in any garden but most people have never seen one. 😁

[@northstarjakobs]

That broke my brain a little. Both that a wasp can be that small but also that a single-celled organism can be larger than a multicellular one

[@Carewolf]

Well. Wasps is a very broad category, they are defined be exclusion. Any insect in the Vespa family that isn't an ant or bee is a wasp. So you can imagine that is a very wide category of insects.

[@kyle9401]

@@northstarjakobs there are some large single celled algae in marine environments...can get up to 30cm in diameter. Wild stuff!

[@charleslambert3368]

@@kyle9401 I kind of want to grow Acetabularia but I know saltwater environments are really hard to care for.

[@KillaBitz]

"Hello, I need some free Wasps please" What a time to be alive.

[@Daniel-ou4fb]

Jewel wasps are one of my favorite insects! A jewel wasp can prevent tens of thousands of cockroaches from ever being born.

[@Tibyon]

Those stinkbugs are extremely prevalent here on the east coast of the US. Japanese beetles are the other really bad pest. But the stinkbugs seem to like human dwellings which really really sucks

[@MrMuz99]

When I saw the Brown marmorated stink bug here, I thought it looked like a 'new' bug that landed on my arm recently. Not sure if it was but it sure looks similar! Edit: Based on what I saw land on me, it's apparently a Hawthorn shieldbug.

[@aninterestingpenguin9374]

It really stinks

[@jordanbradford7729]

They move indoors when it gets cold outside. I never see them in the summer, but every fall I find a few of them inside my apartment. I have no idea how they’re getting in.

Spotted lanternflies are taking over nowadays too which is frustrating considering how big they are. Apparently parasitic wasps are also being looked at for controlling them though

[@skoorbal3173]

in my state these bugers are common to see inside during the winter and fall months. They used to bother me more, but nowadays I just let them be and they usually die of natural causes after a day or two.

[@glumbortango7182]

I was born in 2002 and live on the east coast of the US. Saw these bugs all the time growing up, never knew they only showed up in 1998. Thanks for sharing this very specific topic, probably wouldn't have found that out otherwise.

[@mildlymarvelous]

Biocontrol is so awesome! As an environmental science student, thank you so much for covering this important topic!

[@MarcMokMoser]

BEST NEWS I'VE HEARD ALL DAY. Professional Pest Control guy here. Stinkbug season was twice as long last year. Will look into whether Washington Dept. of Ag. is doing something similar.

[@Ihatespagbol1]

Finally free food!!! Mmmmm crunchy

[@blancobenz]

what

[@TylerMarkRichardson]

Tasty

[@LoreJelly]

Can you save some for me too?

[@lacrimis_solis]

💀

[@matthewboire6843]

R/cursedcomments

[@danafrost5710]

Country: *has oil* USA: *delivers free wasps*

[@nanocowie]

Bioremediation is a hell of an involved effort, from macro-scale intervention to synthetic biology. big ups to the biosci's who can handle it all!

[@tehonlydewd2467]

we had a huge issue with these stink bugs in the mountains of souther california destroying tree bark and eventually killing the tree, we used to call then bark beetles incorrectly not knowing what they actually where, it’s really cool to know that there are people working on resolving this issue!

[@corvidsam]

There is actually a native genus of beetles called bark beetles as well, they’re one of the issues some conifer species are facing in the west! Really fascinating how the interplay between climate change, fire, and bark beetles are facilitating major damage to conifer forests.

[@veramae4098]

I have bark beetles in my woods too. I'll have to try and catch some this spring and get them properly identified, and see if this is a solution.

[@clarehidalgo]

@@corvidsam Those Asian Longhorn beetles and invasive borers are tough because at least the native ones have natural predators

[@bobkazzar6475]

i used to work in a plastics factory in iowa and every time we got a new shipment of led lights from japan some terifying new type of bug would be in the crates, sometimes those giants wasps would be in the boxes

[@TS6815]

"What's this? A handsome United States farm woefully underpopulated by wasps? A large influx of wasps ought to put a stop to that!"

[@erinfinn2273]

"A briefcase full of wasps!"

[@DanLivings]

"It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "It is a plane! And on that plane is DOCTOR WASPS!"

[@shamsquatch9980]

I can't believe I wasn't expecting a Dr. Bees reference on here ow my sides.

[@DOOT_II]

@@shamsquatch9980 *Dr. Wasps

[@Alexrider02]

Strangely, these bugs have been showing up here in Washington State the past 3 or 4 years, but they don't stink when killed, captured, or threatened. I'm not sure whether it's a natural adaptation for some reason, or that they can't access some critical part of their diet that produces the scent here, or what, but it makes it much easier to get rid of them.

[@RICDirector]

With that description, Id take a good sampling live and take them to your extension office for proper ID.

[@Alexrider02]

@@RICDirector Should be fairly easy, they are very slow to react and are quite happy to be picked up and put in a container.

[@Outwardpd]

Stink bug odor is really weird, it is theorized they produce the same or similar odor of cilantro which is notorious for its strangely large variance in perception across the human population, in the sense that a lot of people smell it completely differently and some people don't smell it at all.

[@uhmnope4787]

Stink bugs are all over Europe too. For just a handful of years, something that looks like their big longer brother is around too and it's awful.

[@dweller132]

I'm not a big fan of any kind of wasps, but if these don't sting and they get rid of stinkbugs (we have lots of stinkbugs where I live), then I can support it. I actually didn't know that particular stinkbug was invasive, though, that's something new I learned.

[@tapewormsandstoplights2868]

Most wasps, like the ones in the video, cannot sting. The ones that can are more closely related to bees than other wasps

[@phantompenguintgl1652]

These types of wasp also lay their eggs in humans sometimes.

[@tapewormsandstoplights2868]

@@phantompenguintgl1652 that is not true, if it is give me your source

[@Gammix]

My thoughts exactly

[@nilesbutler8638]

@@phantompenguintgl1652 Bull.

[@beansmccullough7660]

The absolute epitome of Tom Scott video titles

[@willeklof]

This video has 3,400,293.578 free wasps

[@IIwII_usxx]

“the wasps are in here” is the most terrifying sentence i think i’ve ever read

[@RazorCake]

As soon as I saw the title I knew this would be about biocontrol. Great and succinct summary of a complex topic, as usual from Tom. I did my masters in biocontrol and was performing similar research to that mentioned in this video (known as host specificity testing). Unfortunately for us the chosen "predator" (or agent) actually preferred the native species that we were trying not to cause damage to, so we could not recommend it for release.

[@maximiliandort3489]

My favourite thing about wasps is that if you squash a wasp, it releases a chemical from the wasp that attracts people who tell you facts about wasps.

[@mycoinsyourpurse2244]

I hate how the stink bug population has exploded.

[@karama5562]

Fr. Got one in my room today. Normally I spray mint oil and that keeps them away but I ran out recently. The worst thing about them is the helicopter noise they make. Like why??? I can’t imagine that being evolutionarily advantageous.

[@karama5562]

I hope my state government gives me some state-sponsored wasps

[@BluetheRaccoon]

One of the reasons I desperately want to be a landowner and have a homestead for my family is this sort of thing. I love this method of eco-agriculture, and the idea of balancing an ecosystem for optimal performance is thrilling.

[@achim8239]

I wonder what side-effects the emergence of these wasps will have. Fighting an invasive species by bringing in another new species is a bit like playing a lottery.

[@sevegarza]

I live in Oregon. These stink bugs are everywhere. A constant presence on my windowsill. I’m glad work is being done to control them.

[@JamesDClarke]

I recently learned that every variety of fig is pollinated by a different type of Wasp. That's all I know about wasps, other than them ruining picnics etc.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Parasitic aphid wasps have been my go-to for greenhouse aphid control for years. Same with the humble ladybug, they’re voracious aphid eaters.

[@KyleDB150]

In NZ, I've been getting youtube ads from the government warning people about these stinkbugs, and asking them to catch and report them. Guess it's not just us right now

[@---cr8nw]

Here in the US, we're well past catch and report. Asian stinkbugs have been here in the Midwest for decades.

[@dembro27]

"These wasps are the inspiration for one of the most horrific scenes in cinematic history! But they don't sting people! :D"

[@shorthawk]

As somebody who lives in a rural area that gets ridiculous infestations of stink bugs every year.... YESSS PLEEASSEE WE NEEED THISSSS

[@cheesedaemon]

You can start by planting flowers that the wasps will like.

[@placeholdernameisplacehold7671]

@@cheesedaemon For parasitic wasps, it's more about keeping your gardens untilled than the right flowers. When we disturb the soil, we kill the almost microscopic pupae developing just underneath the soil. Best thing to do is to let your garden be.

[@DLJeeves]

Living in Oregon, these pest stinkbugs are by far the most common bug you will encounter. By far.

[@TherosonDragonstoungue]

"They're giving out free stuff in there!" - JonTron

[@KokkiePiet]

Tom, you should visit Wageningen universiteit in the Netherlands. They have been breeding wasps and other insects to control pests for decades. It’s a big industry in the Netherlands. Helps to keep the greenhouses in the Netherlands free from pests without chemicals, and nowadays little pesticides are used in the greenhouses.

[@thoughtfox2409]

Here in germany, the "Maiszünsler" (Ostrinia nubilalis) has become a real problem for farmers, because they destroy corn fields. For fighting these, there are also Wasps (Trichogramma brassicae) in use, and they are quite effective from what i've heard.

[@makinley.s]

this is incredible. as an aspiring entomologist/environmental scientist, this kind of thing always gets my interest and its so cool that this is possible

[@Oba936]

I really love it when you visit such labs and let us get a glimpse into other peoples work.

[@bittertentacles]

So amazing to see a story local to me and one that I've seen the effects of in past years. Sometimes I see entire houses spotted with immense numbers of these stink bugs and I'm ecstatic to see the work being done to bring their population under control.

[@allen_p]

Here in Texas, wasp are polinators. They visit flowers on my tomatoes and other vegetables.

[@gracelandtoo6240]

This episode really was just Tom meeting a wasp scientist in Oregon and giving us Cool Bug Facts™, I love it

[@Rincewindus]

For another example of wasp ecosystems, wasps are also important in the fertilization of some species of figs.

[@bdb7568]

Put a W on the box to let you know there are wasps in the box

[@Bunch007]

Back then it was the stink bug. Today its the Spotted Lanternfly. Started right here in Berks County Pennsylvania. And these things are nasty. Not to us, but to the agriculture and forests. I remember a few years ago we had to fill out government paperwork to travel outside of the county. Had to get our cars inspected for these lanternflies before we left the county. Today, they've spread to multiple counties and now other States. And no known natural enemies (predators) of these spotted lanternflies.

[@PeterEvans_music]

It’s even appearing in Virginia

[@TBoneBoomBoom]

I hope you enjoyed your time in Oregon. Any more Oregon videos coming up? Also, for those who don't know, they are called stink bugs for a reason. DO NOT squish one inside your home...you will only make that mistake once! 😜

[@numeristatech]

Careful picking them up too. I did and a tiny foot long jet of stink liquid came out of its side. They can get you from a distance. Don't know what it is but I always found it to be an almond smell - cyanide then?

[@henrg]

had someone take one out in a portable classroom one time. I remembered it every time I walked in for the rest of the semester.

[@AjarTadpole7202]

I just crush them in my hand. Sure I have to wash my hands afterwards, but idk what "mistake" your talking about

[@TBoneBoomBoom]

@AjarTadpole7202 And some people wipe their butts without toilet paper!

[@finneganmanthe8984]

Being in a state with very little media attention normally I was overjoyed to see Tom here!

[@VladQuake]

Dr. Max Ragozzino seems to be in his perfect element. Awesome to see that

[@paydaygh9388]

“Can we have healthcare?” “Best we can do is wasps”

[@Superlizardy36]

Works for me

[@NoNameAtAll2]

why not both?

[@vgaportauthority9932]

@@Superlizardy36 You say that until you get stung by a wasp and find out you're allergic, then you wake up in the hospital 15k in debt.

[@codymarshall587]

@@vgaportauthority9932 can you just laugh like literally once

[@flszen]

Can’t. Hospital adds a fee for laughing.

[@vincenttrudeau8935]

There should be a big W written on that container

[@LunarChandelure]

Apparently a similar program is being considered in the NE US to deal with recent Spotted Lanternfly infestations. Thanks for bringing such a cool topic my attention!

[@StressedYeti]

Welcome to my home state of Oregon, Tom! I hope you enjoyed your stay.

[@gigabyte2248]

Can we please take a moment to appreciate Tom's showmanship with title and thumbnail? It's a fine balance to create intrigue without being fatuous clickbait, but Tom has a great track record of being attention-grabbing and a bit goofy without being misleading. Today's was an excellent specimen.

[@squish_nerd]

I love how Tom tells us about this information in winter. Once I order my fresh wasps I can train them through he cold months, then use them to take control of the fly population in summer.

[@raydunakin]

Now I have a new word in my vocabulary: Marmorated, meaning streaked like marble.

[@jackwiththefish2973]

One of my best companion planting books (Great Garden Companions by Sally Jean Cunningham) talks about tiny wasps (specifically Aphidiids, Braconids, Chalcids, Ichneumonids, Trichogrammas) and other beneficials. According to this book, planting wildflowers as well as plants in the parsley and carrot families are great ways to support these helpful creatures

[@thisusernamewasnttakensomehow]

I think it’d be shorter to list the topics Tom hasn’t done at this point.

[@AlphaCore_]

Well, he failed to see lava, twice. So that's one of them.

[@whitebear8265]

@@AlphaCore_ He did see some larvae in this video though. That's close enough for me.

[@blindleader42]

@@whitebear8265 Close enough for non-rhotic people only.🙃

[@TheOtherBill]

That would be Tom's todo list.

[@Codraroll]

@@TheOtherBill I really wonder what Tom's bucket list looks like. I'm gonna guess it'd be very long, with noticeable changes to the handwriting as items added and crossed out, using all sorts of pens and pencils over the years.

[@StatiKStudios]

This was an amazing interview... just this past summer/fall we began being inundated with these stink bugs. Thank you to your team and Oregon Dept of Ag for putting this together!

[@kentslocum]

I live in Oregon, and I knew the brown marmorated stink bug was a huge issue (I see them everywhere), but I had no idea there was a possible solution.

[@karyon1007]

Quick question for an Oregonian: is he speaking with an Oregon accent? I can't place his accent and it's bugging me. (To be clear: the accent isn't bugging me, just the curiosity.)

[@persomnus]

I swear we get more in our house every year. This year was particularly bad

[@persomnus]

@@karyon1007 no he's not from Oregon. Tom Scott is British Oregon speaks Pacific Northwest English which is very similar to Californian English in the cities. I speak it slightly strong bc I grew up in a small community, and ppl from other states often guess im from Nova Scotia.

[@karyon1007]

@@persomnus Sorry, I meant Dr. Ragozzino.😆 I do know Tom Scott is British.

[@garlicidk8554]

@@karyon1007 yes it is an Oregonian accent, sometimes called the "newscaster" accent

[@thecouchgamered2007]

the wasp room blasting caramelldansen may now be completed

[@ShadowDrakken]

Bonus fact!! Ants are wasps that (mostly) evolved out of their wings and stingers. Bees and hornets also evolved from wasps :D

[@DuncanEllis]

thank you Tom for demonstrating that Oregon isn't just pioneers and forest fires.

[@gurneyqueen5782]

Ya, now everyone knows that it's also wasps and stink bugs

[@Stevonicus]

I'm Irish, and my perception of Oregon is that it is full of comic books. There are publishers, writers and artists, award-winning comic shops and a big comic con all based in and around Portland.

[@bmay8818]

I live where this lab is. My family calls the stink bugs "Freds" (we say a group of them is a "derp") and they are REALLY annoying! They crawl into every crevice they can find; a dozen were inside my tool battery charger, and another bunch destroyed my reciprocating saw by piling up inside it and jamming the works. Freds are EVERYWHERE around here, twice a year and yes, they stink. I'm glad someone is working on a fix. I do worry about what they might be doing to my trees and such.

[@greybeard4034]

Every animal plays an important role in maintaining a healthy environment

[@Kari_B61ex]

I've never heard of stink bugs before - just googled and yes we have them here in the UK, we tend to call them shield bugs (also never heard of them).

[@Jawst]

We also have a lacewings, sometimes called stinkflies. I don't know if that's an American thing. I don't like shield bugs because they suck the sap from plants... I do like lacewings because they suck juices from insects that harm plants 😁

[@norfolkdragons866]

Crucially our shieldbugs are both native and entirely harmless. They're an important part of the ecosystem.

[@calith00]

@@norfolkdragons866 As of last year the brown shieldbugs arrived in the UK.

[@Nexus_545]

We should give Tom more biology related topics. Of course wasps are important!

[@ZombiesAreJerks]

In 10 years, this is the kind of video that we'll show in school like "Look how silly people were back then, releasing these wasps." And then all the children will laugh, in their wasp-proof future pods.

[@FlamRackett]

One thing I've noticed watching so many of Tom's videos is how freely the experts can talk about the subject to just the camera. It's great you just allow them to say as much as they want on the subject. Enjoy these videos very much

[@buttermilkpancake1554]

Just want to point out an inaccuracy in the title - This is the Oregon Department of Agriculture, meaning it is part of the state government of Oregon, not the US federal government.

[@AskForDoodles]

Whenever I see videos on wasps it's always about the "biggest and scariest" ones, so I had no idea they could be so tiny :D

[@aniasparkle]

Very cool. I just moved to the PNW and I noticed how many more of those stink bugs I'm running into that where I used to live. Nice to know people care and are working on things like these.

[@Tiwtin]

That's neat. I live in Washington, just across the river from Oregon, and the stink bugs are getting worse every year. I was lucky enough to keep them outside for the duration of this summer!

[@connortillott7625]

i watched this last night while half asleep and forgot about it and now I'm writing a uni essay about introduction of natural enemies and couldn't remember where i heard about the use of wasps

[@vantikay]

I hate these stink bugs. I live in Washington state, and they’re all over the place. Good to know that efforts are being made to suppress them!

[@miroslavhoudek7085]

I was once looking for a way to get rid of pantry moths and discovered I can mail order wasps for that. So I did, they came in a cooled envelope, I deployed them and that was it for the pantry moths. I like to tell the story how I ordered wasps and deployed them as a bio weapon in my home because my friends never look at me the same way again. I think I can tell that they realise that I'm somewhat different from them. In a good way, I'm sure.

[@RICDirector]

Once the moths were gone, no reason to stick around, so probably yez.

[@rjlanpheare4293]

this is the best advice ever ur awesome

[@afroman5918]

As a person who had a plauge of pantry moths myself, trust me IT MAKES SENSE WHY HE DID IT

[@mikejunt]

@Danielle Anderson They more or less have to, these kinds of parasitic wasps are very specialized and generally can't reproduce without their host species. Once the moths are gone, they'll die out without a way to reproduce. Thats why the fellow from the state of oregon mentioned they were hesitant to release these wasps until they arrived on their own - if they are a true obligate, 1 species parasite, then they are self-exterminating after the infestation has been destroyed and have no other ecosystem impact. Since these also prey on at least one other variety of stinkbug, if not preferentially, they'll continue to exist even if the target invasive species were extirpated. But once they arrived anyway, there's no reason not to target down the invasive species because that problem already exists. Generally attempts to use parasites for bio-control focus on obligate 1 species parasites that will not affect anything outside of the target. Sometimes other introduced species will fit into the ecosystem fine (like a little pollinator as these wasps are is largely beneficial, and their other target species are not particularly beneficial), but usually its problematic because they don't have predators of their own.

[@Artemi22]

ah yes the friend that is most likely to commit war crimes

[@RepublicOfUs]

Hey, Oregon! Always nice to see my home state show up in interesting videos.

[@chrissanchez2394]

This reminds me of when I mailed my friend bees

[@shinyagumon7015]

I love that they keep them in old coffee cups.

[@RICDirector]

Nah, those are new and unused coffee cups... 🤣

[@severalwolves]

stink bugs smell like how a 9volt battery tastes

[@NonFatMead]

Fun fact - It used to be thought that beetles were the most species-rich insect. However, there are many, many, MANY more species of parasitic (parasitoid) wasp. Some actually parasitise other parasite wasps. It's thought that there's at least one parasitic wasp for ever species of insect out there, so parasitic wasps have the most species of any type of insect.

[@renakunisaki]

How many are there that take over the minds of humans?

[@NonFatMead]

@@renakunisaki I have an overwhelming urget to say 'none' and not to research this. Take that as you will.

[@BaileyWhite]

My life goal is to work on something interesting enough for Tom to make a video about.

[@Sir_Leelord]

the part where the biologist said "anyways" and tom says it correctly as "anyway" was so refreshing... thanks tom.